Recipe 5.8. Dumping Variable Contents as Strings


5.8.1. Problem

You want to inspect the values stored in a variable. It may be a complicated nested array or object, so you can't just print it out or loop through it.

5.8.2. Solution

Use print_r( ) or var_dump( ):

$array = array("name" => "frank", 12, array(3, 4)); print_r($array); Array (     [name] => frank     [0] => 12     [1] => Array         (             [0] => 3             [1] => 4         ) ) var_dump($array); array(3) {   ["name"]=>   string(5) "frank"   [0]=>   int(12)   [1]=>   array(2) {     [0]=>     int(3)     [1]=>     int(4)   } }

5.8.3. Discussion

The output of print_r( ) is more concise and easier to read. The output of var_dump( ), however, gives data types and lengths for each variable.

Since these functions recursively work their way through variables, if you have references within a variable pointing back to the variable itself, you can end up with an infinite loop. Both functions stop themselves from printing variable information forever, though. Once print_r( ) has seen a variable once, it prints *RECURSION* instead of printing information about the variable again and continues iterating through the rest of the information it has to print. var_dump( ) prints a variable twice before printing *RECURSION* and skipping it. Consider the arrays $user_1 and $user_2, which reference each other through their friend elements:

$user_1 = array('name' => 'Max Bialystock',                 'username' => 'max'); $user_2 = array('name' => 'Leo Bloom',                 'username' => 'leo'); // Max and Leo are friends $user_2['friend'] = &$user_1; $user_1['friend'] = &$user_2; // Max and Leo have jobs $user_1['job'] = 'Swindler'; $user_2['job'] = 'Accountant';

The output of print_r($user_2) is:

Array (     [name] => Leo Bloom     [username] => leo     [friend] => Array         (             [name] => Max Bialystock             [username] => max             [friend] => Array                 (                     [name] => Leo Bloom                     [username] => leo                     [friend] => Array  *RECURSION*                     [job] => Accountant                 )             [job] => Swindler         )     [job] => Accountant )

When print_r( ) sees the reference to $user_1 the second time, it prints *RECURSION* instead of descending into the array. It then continues on its way, printing the remaining elements of $user_1 and $user_2.

Confronted with recursion, var_dump( ) behaves differently:

array(4) {   ["name"]=>   string(9) "Leo Bloom"   ["username"]=>   string(3) "leo"   ["friend"]=>   &array(4) {     ["name"]=>     string(14) "Max Bialystock"     ["username"]=>     string(3) "max"     ["friend"]=>     &array(4) {       ["name"]=>       string(9) "Leo Bloom"       ["username"]=>       string(3) "leo"       ["friend"]=>       &array(4) {         ["name"]=>         string(14) "Max Bialystock"         ["username"]=>         string(3) "max"         ["friend"]=>         &array(4) {           ["name"]=>           string(9) "Leo Bloom"           ["username"]=>           string(3) "leo"           ["friend"]=>           *RECURSION*           ["job"]=>           string(10) "Accountant"         }         ["job"]=>         string(8) "Swindler"       }       ["job"]=>       string(10) "Accountant"     }     ["job"]=>     string(8) "Swindler"   }   ["job"]=>   string(10) "Accountant" } 

It's not until the third appearance of the reference to $user_1 that var_dump( ) stops recursing.

Even though print_r( ) and var_dump( ) print their results instead of returning them, you can capture the data without printing it in one of two ways.

First, you can pass TRue as the second parameter to print_r( ):

$output = print_r($user, true);

This does not work with var_dump( ); however, you can use output buffering instead:

ob_start(); var_dump($user); $dump = ob_get_contents(); ob_end_clean();

This puts the results of var_dump($user) in $dump.

5.8.4. See Also

Output buffering is discussed in Recipe 8.12; documentation on print_r( ) at http://www.php.net/print-r and var_dump( ) at http://www.php.net/var-dump .




PHP Cookbook, 2nd Edition
PHP Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for PHP Programmers
ISBN: 0596101015
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 445

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